The Wise Man Said

May 11, 2008 | By Monika Mundell |

The wise man said that you shouldn’t pick your nose in public. The other day I received an email from a reader asking me whether it is easy to start making money with a blog and how fast she could quit her day job if she started now.

Hello?!

I mean, excuse me. You can’t just start to make money like that. You will need a plan and work it to be successful and it certainly won’t happen overnight either.

wise man

Quitting your day job sounds like fun that most of us would enjoy, but sadly most never will.

Here is problem number one: most people have the false belief that it is relatively easy to make money online with a blog or a website. They read an inflated and hyped up sale message and think, “gee, I can do that too”.

It is easy to underestimate what it really takes to become successful when we dream. Really, we can’t be blamed or can we?

As the wise man said, don’t quit your day job before you are absolutely sure that your business will support you. Some business owners become successful overnight and quit their job only to find themselves without an income 30 days later.

Always have a backup plan. For me, that would be to go back to my hated job as a galley slave, but I don’t intend to do that ever again. That is why I’m working so hard right now. I’m building my business into an empire and hope to dominate the blogosphere one day. Ok, that was a joke - not.

Kidding aside though, how are you going with your day job? Have you got step by step plans that bring you a little closer to your goal every day, or do you just amble about (not sure whether this even a word).

For most businesses it takes anywhere from a few months to a couple of years to become successful in monetary terms. Even if you follow a plan and work hard. This alone fails many since they give up far too early.

It is also a good idea to find out what the average income is in your country. This will help you to set achievable milestones.

Many factors play into a potential business success, but the single most contributing factor is still you. Don’t make the mistake of leaving yourself in the dry and quit your day job too early. It could become very costly indeed.

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5 Comments »

Comment by Siddharth
2008-05-11 15:12:14

Hello Monika,
This is a good post and I agree that as success and money don’t come easy in the offline world that how it can in the online world. Work hard and continuous blogging makes your blog a hit.

Comment by Monika Mundell
2008-05-12 10:31:31

@ Siddharth: you touched on a good point here when you said success doesn’t come easy in the offline world, so how can it in the online?

That is a very good question and one we should ask the millions of failed online business owners who thought it was easy. I fear it is to do with our greed, why else would we play the lottery every weekend (I actually don’t).

It is all too easy to dream of millions that come our way without having to lift a finger. Wouldn’t that be cool?

To be honest though, we wouldn’t enjoy it half as much as we couldn’t appreciate it.

 
 
Comment by Barbara Ling
2008-05-11 18:31:51

The problem I’ve found is that people want that silver bullet and when the actual work is realized…they abandon it for the next promised silver bullet in the horizon.

It gets very frustrating sometimes.

Data points,

Barbara

 
Comment by Tia Subscribed to comments via email
2008-05-11 21:37:52

I agree and I always have a backup plan.

 
Comment by Monika Mundell
2008-05-12 10:33:32

@ Barbara: exactly. With business there is always work involved. How can someone possibly believe there isn’t? I’m afraid I don’t get this.

 
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